Displaying Your Insulators

Sombrero Stand

By W. H. (Ted) Ingram

In email discussions back and forth with Carol Kerns about Sombrero insulators, she
gave me an idea for a display stand. So I built a prototype, using the same concept as
display stands for those porcelain collector plates -- but Carol gets most of the credit,
since she was my inspiration. I'm sharing the idea with you in case you have a Sombrero or
two, and want to build something similar.

My
next attempt will be slightly different in design, especially the back corner where the
two pieces of wood join together (butt one against the other, join them with dowels and
glue, which maybe will eliminate the need for that center support/rib piece made from
scraps).

For materials, I used oak but any strong non-flexible material will do. Carol even
suggested clear acrylic, which could be cut with the proper blade in a jigsaw. For the two
curves, I first experimented with cardboard templates until I got the curves the same
profile as the outside curve of the Sombrero.

A
word of caution about the location of those curves -- make sure that they are high enough
up from the bottom so that when the Sombrero is sitting in the stand, the bottom of the
Sombrero IS NOT touching whatever the stand is sitting upon -- you want the stand to
elevate the Sombrero slightly above the furniture supporting the stand. In my case, that's
about 1 1/8 inches between the bottom of the curve and the table that the stand sits on.

If anyone has other ideas about displaying Sombrero insulators, I would be pleased to
learn of them.
regards, W. H. (Ted) Ingram